History

Since 1982, the North Carolina Coastal Federation has worked with people to safeguard the coastal rivers, creeks, sounds and beaches of North Carolina.

Todd Miller, the federation’s current executive director, formed the nonprofit organization in 1982. Although the Coastal Area Management Act had been in effect since 1974, there was a need for a clearer vision for long-term coastal management.

Soon after it formed in 1982, the federation rallied fishermen, environmentalists and scientists to oppose a proposal to strip-mine 120,000 acres of peat bogs between the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. The project gained national attention, including coverage on the CBS Evening News and PBS’s MacNeil-Lehrer Report. The proposal was defeated in 1984, and the federation then worked for the passage of state rules that have effectively prohibited large-scale peat mining. Most of the areas that were formerly targeted for peat mining are now permanently preserved in national wildlife refuges.

Achievements

Since it first cut its teeth on the peat mining issue, the federation has been an extremely active participant in coastal management issues throughout the entire North Carolina coast and elsewhere in the nation. Some highlights of our achievements include:

Establishment of new wetland water quality standards

Tighter regulation of waste water discharges from phosphate mining

New standards for siting marinas

Designation of 10 percent of all coastal waters as Outstanding Resource Waters

Designation of 1994 as North Carolina’s Year of the Coast, which translated into a specific environmental agenda by Governor Jim Hunt

A new federal law that earmarks approximately $250 million for restoration of the nation’s estuaries

Preservation of more than 10,000 acres of threatened coastal land

Historical Highlights

2016

The federation helped lead the Stop Titan coalition, which successfully led grassroots opposition to Titan America’s plan to develop a coal-fired cement plant in New Castle Hayne. Titan America announced in March 2016 that it was abandoning its plans.

The federation and other organizations successfully led opposition to offshore oil drilling off the North Carolina coast. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced in March 2016 that it was not going to include the Atlantic coast in its 2017-22 offshore oil and gas leasing plan. It cited grassroots opposition from coastal residents and local governments as one of its reasons for not moving forward.

The Manteo office relocated to the Wanchese Marine Industrial Park, where staff now work alongside commercial fishermen, recreational boat-builders and fishing suppliers.

The federation reached more than 170,000 people. It engaged 1,007 volunteers, educated 4,186 students and informed 10,745 people through presentations, programs and workshops.

2015

The federation co-hosted the North Carolina Oyster Summit in Raleigh in addition to eight other workshops and summits on offshore oil, stormwater, living shorelines and more.

2014

The federation opened the Fred and Alice Stanback Coastal Education Center, our southeast office in Wrightsville Beach. All three of our offices now have permanent homes.

The federation spearheaded a highly successful Low Impact Development Summit, which hosted developers, engineers, elected leaders and federal and state agency staff all affirming their commitment to LID for improving water quality.

The federation paid commercial fishermen to collect derelict and abandoned crab pots in the Pamlico Sound as part of a Marine Debris project funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and North Carolina Sea Grant.

More hydrologic restoration work was completed in the 42,500-acre Mattamuskeet Drainage Association in Hyde County, bringing us closer to restoring the hydrology to pre-ditching-and-draining levels.

The federation engaged 966 volunteers who donated 13,662 hours; 2,175 students who participated in education programs; and 307,389 people who were educated through education and outreach programs (the increased education and outreach number is due to the 240,000 viewership of the CBS special Eyes on Wilmington).

2013

The federation’s daily news service, the Coastal Review Online, became a member of the North Carolina Press Association. The federation is the only non-profit awarded this honor, which recognizes the objectivity of its reporting.

The federation closed on the easement for the final tract of land at North River Farms, initiating the last phase in the 6,000-acre wetland restoration. Shellfish waters adjacent to the restoration changed from closed to conditionally approved open.

The federation completed another 1,200 acres of hydrologic restoration on the Mattamuskeet Drainage Association in Hyde County. Working with farmers, the federation is removing agricultural drainage from the Long Shoal River and Pamlico Sound with a goal of restoring historical oyster beds and shellfishing.

The federation worked with partners to design and promote STORM EZ, a tool that allows developers, builders and others to calculate stormwater management amounts for permitting. It makes Low-Impact Development much easier to use.

The federation released a guidebook to creating a watershed restoration plan that was approved by the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This makes it easier, faster and less expensive for local governments and groups to create watershed restoration plans and then direct funds to needed implementation.

The federation engaged 1,368 volunteers who donated 15,842 hours; 2,402 students who participated in education programs; and 23,519 people who were educated through education and outreach programs.

2012

The federation launched Coastal Review Online, a free, daily news service highlighting the coast’s most important issues and news.

The federation worked with the N.C. Division of Water Quality to develop a formal state commitment to Low Impact Development (LID) that includes ways to overcome impediments and work to promote LID educational and outreach opportunities.

The federation engaged 2,093 volunteers who donated 17,301 hours; 3,313 students who participated in education programs; and 18,066 people who were educated through education and outreach programs.

2011

The federation continued to lead the effort to stop Titan through management of the STAN coalition by successfully engaging community to rally against Titan. Additionally, the federation and partners educated and empowered citizens to pressure the local commissioners to update local zoning requirements for heavy and light industries that will require Titan to apply for a Special Use Permit approval from the county.

The federation championed the Use of Low Impact Development (LID) by local governments, developers and landowners with a goal of reducing stormwater runoff.

2010

The federation engaged 500 citizens in public meetings that discussed problems caused by terminal groins and beach hardening. No bills were passed in 2010 that allowed terminal groins. The federation rallied members and the public to attend Hands Across the Sand – a nationwide protest of Offshore Drilling, and 1,727 people attended 18 rallies in N.C.

The federation surpassed 10,000 members.

2009

The federation received a $5 million federal economic stimulus grant to construct oyster reefs for oysters and other estuarine animals and plants that will create or retain 140 jobs coast-wide.

The federation organized the Beach Summit, which was attended by more than 50 experts in beach science, policy and management. The summit produced recommendations for ensuring that our beaches stay public and healthy.

2008

The federation offered citizens from areas around Wilmington, Morehead City, Manteo and the Triangle an opportunity to rally outside the North Carolina State Legislative Building in Raleigh to show support for more effective rules to control polluted runoff along the coast. Meetings were arranged to ensure legislators heard all sides of the debate. Citizens had another opportunity while seated across the table from their representatives at lunch to peel shrimp and argue the need for clean water. The legislature passed tougher stormwater rules.

The federation’s Northeast Regional Office in Manteo was purchased, renovated and opened.

2007

The federation led a campaign that resulted in the passage of the Solid Waste Management Act of 2007. The bill nixed several mega-landfills planned for the coast in low-income and minority rural communities and established new environmental protections to protect surface waters and wetlands.

2006

Landowners on the Scuppernong River in Tyrrell County worked with the federation to place 160 acres of wetlands and prime upland real estate in a conservation easement held by the federation.

2005

The Morris Landing Living Shoreline demonstration project in Onslow County was completed, including the construction of a 575-foot stone and oyster-bag sill adjacent to Stump Sound, the planting of wetland grasses and the construction of a public pier and educational platform.

The federation received a grant from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund to buy much of Jones Island in the lower White Oak River. The island was for sale, and development would have increased bacterial contamination in the river. It is now being developed into a environmental education center.

2004

The federation received the prestigious Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award for 2004 Land Conservationist of the Year. The award was given to federation’s North River Farms restoration project, the largest private wetlands restoration project in North Carolina history.

2003

The Cape Hatteras Coastkeeper® came aboard.

The federation saw a number of new legislative initiatives, including the “Living Shorelines” law. This bill will speed up the process and promote natural shoreline erosion control projects over chemically-treated wooden bulkheads that destroy marine habitat.

The N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund approved a grant to allow the federation to buy 52 acres at Morris Landing near Holly Ridge in Onslow County. This property helps to protect the relatively unpolluted waters of Stump Sound, an extremely productive fisheries area for shellfish, shrimp and finfish.

2002

The federation conducted major shoreline restoration projects at the Duke University Marine Lab on Pivers Island near Beaufort and at the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

The federation’s second Coastkeeper® began work in the Cape Lookout region.

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources held a formal dedication of Bird Island as the state’s 10th coastal reserve. The federation and several environmental groups worked over ten years to purchase and protect the island from development.

The federation bought the rest of North River Farms. The federation negotiated with three private conservation buyers to acquire 1,435 acres. They committed to providing the federation with a conservation easement on the land after it is restored by enrolling the land in the Wetland Reserve Program through USDA.

2001

The Cape Fear Coastkeeper®, headquartered in the Wilmington field office, became the federation’s first Coastkeeper®.

Carteret Community College worked with the federation, N.C. State University and others to restore its shoreline on Bogue Sound as part of a campus-wide stormwater management plan. The N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund approved the planning grant.

2000

The Wetlands Restoration Fund agreed to provide money and work with the federation to remove a portion of a causeway to Permuda Island in Onslow County, restoring tidal wetlands in the area and increase flushing in Stump Sound – one of North Carolina’s most productive oyster areas.

The federation bought 1,981 acres on North River in Carteret County with a grant from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The former farm land is the site of the largest wetland restoration project in the state.

1999

Using a grant from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the federation helped Hammocks Beach State Park buy Huggins Island, a 110-acre developable island in the White Oak River. Later in the year, the island was incorporated into Hammocks Beach State Park and permanently protected.

With help from the federation, a moratorium on new hog farms and expansion of existing farms in the state was extended until 2001.

The federation again helped to defend the state’s ban on ocean seawalls as a third party in the Shell Island suit. The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the State’s ban by unanimously deciding that the ban is constitutional.

1998

The federation’s education program started two major restoration projects at Hoop Pole Creek: placing oyster shell (cultch) in the creek to restore a historic oyster bed and planting over 2,000 wetland plants in the marsh to restore a heavily damaged section of the wetland.

The state was assisted in its defense to ban sea walls when the federation became a third party to a lawsuit between the Shell Island Resort Homeowners Association and the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission. A superior court judge dismissed the suit, but his decision was appealed.

The federation helped rally people to oppose Chevron USA when it announced its intention to sink a test well 30 miles off Cape Hatteras.

With assistance from the federation, the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission proceeded with the creation of new rules to protect our shoreline along coastal rivers and sounds.

1997

The federation opened a field office in Wilmington.

The federation started the ShoreKeeper Program to encourage coastal residents to become more responsible and involved stewards of the environment.

The federation bought 31 acres along Hoop Pole Creek in Atlantic Beach with a $2.5 million from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The parcel is now preserved as a nature area and nature walk.

1996

As one of 11 regional estuary environmental groups, the federation helped draft a federal bill by the national coalition, Restore America’s Estuaries, to restore one million acres of estuarine habitat by 2010.

The N.C. General Assembly passed the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund with the support of the federation.

In partnership with the Sunset Beach Taxpayers Association, the federation succeeded in getting the state to authorize a comprehensive environmental analysis of the secondary impacts of central sewage systems along the coast.

1995

The first annual State of the Coast Report was published and distributed to 100,000 households.

The federation partnered with seven other organizations from across the country to form Restore America’s Estuaries, a national coalition with the goal of restoring estuaries nationwide.

1994

With the state, the federation coordinated and promoted the statewide Year of the Coast event. The yearlong event focused on the value of our coastal environment and the fundamental causes of a deteriorating coast. The work grew out of the federation’s Seeking a Coastal Water Quality Commitment: An Agenda for Action campaign.

In partnership with the N.C. Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, the federation developed the Save Our Coast campaign to implement the recommendations that grew out of the Year of the Coast. Gov. Jim Hunt enthusiastically endorsed the recommendations.

1993

The federation expanded its environmental education program with improvements to the Hadnot Creek public nature trail and education center in Carteret County.

1992

The federation started efforts to preserve Bird Island in Brunswick County when the owner announced plans to build a mile-long bridge to the island and develop the island for houses. The federation helped organize the Bird Island Society and continues today as a mentor to the group.

1991

The federation helped mobilize citizens to oppose a proposal to allow seawalls and other types of hardened structures along the beaches. After a letter-writing campaign and public hearing the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission said that strong public support for the ban had swayed the commission to reject the proposal.

1990

Stormwater runoff rules were strengthened and better rules to regulate marina sites in shellfish waters were obtained through federation efforts.

The federation took a leadership role in the state’s designation of 10 percent of coastal waters as Outstanding Resource Waters – the state’s most protective water quality classification.

After much public pressure organized by the federation, Gov. Jim Martin publicly opposed Mobil Oil Corporation’s proposal to make exploratory drills off the N.C. coast.

1989

Todd Miller, federation’s executive director, accepted an invitation from Congress to testify at its water quality hearings.

The federation analyzed pollution from Texas Gulf Chemical Co. in Aurora and found that discharges from the company’s phosphate mining operation did not conform to federal standards. The company installed an innovative waste recycling system that dramatically reduced phosphorus and fluoride discharges to the river.

The federation participated in public hearings on the environmental impact study prepared for Mobil Corporation’s oil drilling exploration plan.

1988

In partnership with other environmental groups, the federation filed a federal lawsuit over the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers to protect 404 wetlands.

1987

With encouragement from the federation, Congress designated the estuaries of the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds as “National Concerns.” This designation led to the creation of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study (APES).

The federation began working to ensure active citizen involvement and preparation in the APES Conservation Management Plan.

1986

The federation mobilized citizen support for the Division of Environmental Management’s proposed stormwater runoff rules.

1985

A successful lawsuit was filed against the state for permitting a marina and condominiums on Hoop Pole Creek in Atlantic Beach. Eleven years later, the federation bought the property adjacent to open shellfishing. It is now permanently protected.

With three other groups, the federation filed a lawsuit against the N.C. Environmental Management Commission asking that three proposed Bogue Banks shopping centers require permits to discharge stormwater into Bogue Sound. Pressure eventually led to the state’s adoption of more effective rules.

1984

The Peat Methanol Associates proposal to mine peat was defeated. Those wetlands formerly targeted for peat mining are now mostly preserved as national wildlife refuges.

1983

The federation worked with fishermen in Onslow County to halt construction of condominiums on Permuda Island in Stump Sound. The state denied the permits three years later, and the island is now publicly owned as a natural and historic estuary preserve.

With fishermen, environmentalists, scientists and citizens, the federation rallied to oppose peat mining of wetlands (photo right) between the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. This movement gained national attention, including coverage on the CBS Evening News and PBS’s MacNeil-Lehrer Report.

1982

The federation was formed by Todd Miller, its executive director and first staff member, in response to threats from the peat mining industry. Todd ran the organization out of his house in Ocean in Carteret County.